Seiðr Loom

frost-giant

Hrymr

The giant who comes from the east at Ragnarök with his shield held high; Snorri makes him the steersman of the ship Naglfar and leader of the frost-giants.

Hrymr is a giant who appears only at Ragnarök. Völuspá gives him one line as the end begins: "From the east comes Hrym with shield held high" Völuspá 50. The same stanza has the serpent writhing in the sea and ends "Naglfar is loose."

Snorri connects the two: "Hrymr is the name of the giant who steers Naglfar." He then has Hrymr march with Loki to the field of Vígríðr, "and with him all the Rime-Giants" Gylfaginning 51. In Snorri's quotation of Völuspá the line reads "Hrymr sails from the east," which supports a ship Gylfaginning 51; Bellows's Völuspá has him simply "come."

Nothing is told of Hrymr's life or death, and the sources do not say who kills him.

In the sources

Quoted from the hosted translations; each line is checked against the text when the site is built. Select a reference to read it in context.

From the east comes Hrym with shield held high
Völuspá 50 Hrymr's only appearance in the poems.
Hrymr is the name of the giant who steers Naglfar.
Gylfaginning 51 Snorri gives Hrymr command of the ship of the dead.
then Loki and Hrymr shall come there also, and with him all the Rime-Giants
Gylfaginning 51 He leads the frost-giants onto the field Vígríðr.

Where the sources disagree or fall silent

  • Völuspá does not say Hrymr steers Naglfar; it names him and the ship in the same stanza (Völuspá 50). Snorri's link between them may be his own reading of that stanza.
  • The meaning of the name is uncertain; 'the decrepit one' has been suggested.

Myths with Hrymr

Ragnarök: the doom of the gods The end of the Norse world as told in Völuspá, Vafþrúðnismál and Snorri's Gylfaginning: winter and war, the wolf and the serpent loose, the gods killed one by one, and Surtr's fire over the earth.

Related

Naglfar The great ship made of dead men's nails that breaks loose at Ragnarök and carries the giants against the gods; Snorri names Hrymr as its steersman. Loki The giant-born trickster counted among the Æsir: father of Fenrir, the Midgard Serpent and Hel, contriver of Baldr's death, bound until Ragnarök. The giants (jötnar) jötnar The giants of Norse myth: the oldest race in the world, descended from Ymir, wise and often wealthy, enemies of the gods yet their kin, their wives and their mothers. Ragnarök The foretold end of the gods' world: wolves swallow sun and moon, Loki and the monsters break loose, the gods fall in battle, Surtr burns the earth, and a new world rises. Vígríðr The plain, a hundred leagues each way, where the gods and their enemies meet in the last battle of Ragnarök.